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Wednesday, December 27, 2000
Council Approves Site for Atomic Museum
By John Fleck
Journal Staff Writer
Backers of a plan to move Albuquerque's National Atomic Museum have their eyes on federal funding now that they have signed a lease with the city of Albuquerque on a new museum site.
The lease, approved by the City Council last week on a 9-0 vote, gives the museum a new home in the city's Balloon Fiesta Park.
But the lease is just the first step in making a move, said museum director Jim Walther, and the next steps require museum backers to raise a significant amount of money.
The museum is now located on Kirtland Air Force Base.
Museum officials have long wanted it moved out into the community, partly because its current home is a 51-year-old converted hangar building and partly because its location on a military base makes it difficult for members of the public to get to.
Owned by the U.S. Department of Energy and managed by Sandia National Laboratories, the museum contains exhibits about nuclear weapons and other elements of nuclear history.
When it moves, its name will be changed to The National Museum of Nuclear Science and History.
Walther said the museum's backers plan to raise half of its estimated $14 million cost through government contributions, and half through a public fund-raising campaign.
Already, $1.4 million has been raised.
The federal government currently provides $700,000 of its $800,000 annual operating cost, Walther said, with the National Atomic Museum Foundation, a nonprofit organization, providing the rest.
Eventually, Walther said, museum supporters hope it will be financially self-sufficient.
Museum backers' next step will be meetings in Washington, D.C., about the possibility of obtaining federal funding for the 2002 fiscal year, he said.
If all goes well, Walther said, the new museum will open in four years.